A pair of protected barn owls has successfully raised four chicks at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire – the first successful breeding attempt recorded at the country estate in two decades.
The owlets were reared over the summer before leaving their nest and flying out into the surrounding landscape. Their arrival follows conservation work designed to make the parkland a better place for barn owls and the small mammals they rely on for food.
Wildlife work creates the right conditions
The National Trust has been managing Kedleston’s wooded areas and grasslands, as well as planting wildflower meadows. These changes have helped increase the local population of field voles, a favourite food of young barn owls.
Staff have also installed weather-resistant owl boxes across the site. The boxes provide an alternative to the tree hollows in mature trees where breeding barn owls often look for a nest.
One of those boxes became home to the four chicks this summer.
A welcome sign for Derbyshire’s barn owls
Countryside manager Tom Dunne said the successful fledging showed that the owls had been able to raise their young fully before heading out into the landscape.
He said the breeding success was also “a sign to us that this landscape has lots of food available for the barn owls”.
The estate has been putting up barn owl boxes for several years, with Mr Dunne describing them as “a really important piece of the puzzle”.
For Kedleston’s conservation team, the return of breeding barn owls is an encouraging indication that work across the site is beginning to pay off. Managing habitat, increasing food supplies and providing safe nesting places have combined to give the protected birds a stronger chance of thriving on the Derbyshire estate.
